Then again, the UFC was able to book a hell of a replacement opponent for Fabricio Werdum in Mark Hunt, and an interim title fight between the two is probably the best thing us fans could ask for, all things considered. Late replacement main events are always a mixed bag, but before we start rioting, let’s all take a deep breath and try to remember a few last-minute headliners that actually worked out…

The Good

UFC 128: Shogun vs. Jones

(This and all photos hereafter via Getty.)

That’s right, the event that marked the beginning of the end for light heavyweights with title aspirations was never meant to happen.

Having just ended the Machida Era™ at UFC 113 in stunning fashion, Mauricio Rua was actually scheduled to face Rashad Evans at UFC 128 until a knee injury forced the latter out of the contest. Rua, who had just had his own knee repaired following the Machida fight, was then matched up against a resurgent and likeable at the time contender named Jon Jones, who had unleashed an And-1 mixtape of asskicking on Ryan Bader just two events prior.

Although it was Rua who held the tremendous experience edge, it was Jones who would dominate the fight from start to finish. Flying knees, oblique kicks, and likely an eye poke or five from the challenger had Rua in defense mode until a particularly vicious knee put him away in the third round. Despite being called up to the biggest fight of his life on a month’s notice, Jones emerged a champion and sent a chilling message to the rest of the light heavyweight division.

That message: “Hey pussy, are you still there? None of you will ever defeat me.”

Let’s be honest, UFC 177 was all but doomed to be a pay-per-view failure before it even got out of the gate. The only fight with even a trace of heat on it was the main event, an all-too-soon rematch between Renan Barao and TJ Dillashaw, which lost one of its players the day before the event was scheduled to take place. Toss in the fact that the card was reduced to just 8 fights after Henry Cejudo went and Henry Cejuodo’d and you’ve got yourselves the makings of a real stinkeroo right there.

And while it’s true that UFC 177′s PPV figures are supremely underwhelming – MMAFighting’s Dave Meltzer pinpoints the number around 125,000 buys — the card really performed better than it had any right to. Despite losing its main event at the last minute, UFC 177 still outperformed UFC 174, which final estimations pinned between 95,000 to 115,000 buys. In any case, UFC 177 marks just the third time in the modern era that a UFC pay-per-view has scored below 200,000 buys, along with 174 and UFC 163: Aldo vs. Korean Zombie, which netted just 180,000 buys.

The concerning issue here is that the amount of exposure given to the lighter weight classes through FOX events has had little impact on the pay-per-view numbers generated by its most reliable stars — specifically, Demetrious Johnson, who has headlined three UFC on FOX events but has yet to see any increase in his PPV sales despite his success. As Meltzer explained…

Sure, maybe the card lost an Olympian, it’s original co-main event, and it’s main event at the last minute. And yeah, UFC 177 as a whole only contained two fighters ranked in the top 15 in their division, and only two of the 144 ranked fighters in all 9 divisions, but this card was worth every penny of the $54.99 it cost, you unappreciative fucks! CRITICIZING SOMETHING MEANS YOU HATE IT.

In case you’ve been away from the Internet for the last few days: The main event of UFC 177 was supposed to be bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw vs. Renan Barao–an unnecessary rematch of their bout from May. Barao botched his weight cut, which caused him to fall and hit his head in the shower. He was rushed to the hospital and couldn’t fight. Weight cutting is a serious health issue, but Dana White and the UFC apparently don’t care.

Insults to the ego are one thing, insults to the wallet are another. The former is naught but the buzzing of flies, but the latter stings like Head and Shoulders in the eye. Renan Barao will probably get over Joe Rogan essentially calling him an embarrassment to himself and the UFC. But will Barao get over Dana White refusing to pay him his show money? Because that’s what Dana White is doing. He’s not paying Barao.

The gap between fights on FS1 broadcasts is massive. We realized it was senseless to just watch all the commercials. Instead, let’s all be productive with our time. Here’s a list of several (but not all) things you can do during the huge amount of time in between fights.

Welcome to the non-liveblog of UFC 177: Dillashaw vs. Soto, a pay-per-view card so shockingly irrelevant that we’ll barely be covering it tonight. Basically, we’ll update the results through the night — which you can find after the jump — and that’s about it. If something particularly interesting happens, we’ll let you know, and if we find any good GIFs, we will link you to them. Thanks for checking in with us, and follow us on twitter for bonus commentary.

As karmic retribution for the UFC trying to sell us a garbage-ass pay-per-view, Renan Barao withdrew from his UFC 177 headlining fight against TJ Dillashaw earlier today, following complications during his weight cut.

As a result of the withdrawal, the UFC has drafted — get this — former Bellator featherweight champion Joe Soto to step in on a day’s notice against Dillashaw. Soto is riding a six-fight win streak, and was set to make his UFC debut tomorrow night against Anthony Birchak (never heard of him) on the prelims. So now, tomorrow’s pay-per-view event is UFC 177: Dillashaw vs. Soto. Card subject to change. Refunds now available.

UFC 177 was so star-deprived that Renan Barao himself was the biggest name on the card. And now he’s gone. God help us all. UFC 177 will proceed with just eight fights on the card. When we woke up this morning, there were ten, but then Henry Cejudo did his thing, and now this. Unreal.

“(Barao) is scared,” Dillashaw said after the bad news broke. “He doesn’t want it. His coaches wanted the rematch more than he did. He’s never missed weight before. It’s kinda funny he does it now.”

I mean, sure, DW may fly off the handle and do something detrimental to the sport every now and again, and he may treat any media member who has the balls to call him out for doing so like a hostile witness in a murder trial, but for the most part, he seems relatively harmless for a multi-millionaire in charge of (what was once) the world’s fastest growing sport, right guys? (*narrowly ducks beer bottle*)

Just take a look at the UFC 177 Danavlog — which grants us a behind-the-scenes look at the drama-filled evening of UFC 175 — if you don’t believe me. Whether he’s informing Matt Mitrione that his fight with Stefan Struve had been cancelled at the last minute, bitching out Joe Rogan for his infamous “f-up” during Ronda Rousey‘s post interview, or simply posing for photos with fans, White handles it all with the grace of someone who definitely wouldn’t drive a railroad spike through a dog’s head to intimidate a rival promoter, unlike some of his former peers.